What are push notifications and how should I use them?

A push notification is a message delivered to a user outside the app, on the homescreen of their phone. Push notifications can also reach users while they are using different apps or other phone features. Because they can reach users at any time, outside the app, push notifications are primarily used for two purposes: to notify users of important or time-sensitive information, or to re-engage users by driving them into the app.

Push notifications designed to re-engage users are typically sent to a target audience of users at a scheduled time. As a best practice, we recommend that you make your push campaigns as personalized and relevant to your target audience as possible. Our data shows that targeted push campaigns result in 2x higher click rates and 3x higher conversion rates than broadcast messages.

Push notifications designed to alert or notify users are referred to as "transactional" notifications. This type of notification is usually sent programatically via an API call that is triggered based on a server event. Transactional notifications can be 1:1 (e.g. "Your order has shipped." "Your car has arrived.") or 1:many (e.g. breaking news alerts, breaking sports scores). Learn more about transactional notifications and API campaigns here.

Learn more about push notifications and general app marketing strategies here.